The Isekai Game

Boom Boom Boom

Little ashes brushed along her hair. Tears fell from the sting in her eyes. The night sky was hidden by the smoke. And no matter how far she walked, the nightmare didn't end. Rather, the flames sparked and grew. 

It was possible it was the shrine itself that caused this trauma. But it didn't make sense. Even Angelica warned her about the "curse", not the "shrines".

Good thing she held her shotgun in her left hand. A fireball flew at her. She aimed her g*n at her flank and shot it with an ice bullet. 

The fireball remained floating back into the air. Its flames intensified, causing Vanessa to shoot it a few more times. 

Somewhere in the firing, the ball of fire vanquished. There was no darkness. Just smoke rising into the darkened sky. 

Tilting the shotgun back, Vanessa charged it as she looked around. Tiny flames were erupting from the ashes. She spun around, hoping to see whatever attacked her. Instead, the fire grew with the passing of time. 

She walked away, remembering to avoid fights she can't handle. And given the way this theme seems to be going, there was no way she could handle this alone. Likewise, the flames began dancing in abnormal ways. There was something controlling the fire, she thought. 

There were no branches to hide on. Nor many places for an assailant to hide. Trees were mostly thin like her arms. Vanessa wiped away her tears, hoping to see whatever was manipulating the flames. But nothing was there.

She began running in the direction of the shrine when a fireball flew at her legs. After jumping over, she rolled into the washed dirt and fired her g*n back at it.

Another fireball flew at her head, caused her to lean back to dodge it. Rising to her feet, she unsheathed Masamune which was glowing bright blue. 

Slicing Masamune at an oncoming fireball released a number of ice shards that pierced into it. It was at this moment that Vanessa realized these flame balls had faces. 

She spun quickly to fire ice bullets at the previous two fireballs. But there were already others flying at her. Just when she killed three, two others combined to create a car-sized bomb. 

Its movements were slow like a balloon. But the flashing of yellow and orange indicated that the thing was going to blow up. 

It grinned and laughed chasing after Vanessa. She sprinted through the trees, attempting to focus on getting away. But smaller fireballs continuously flew at her. They refused to let her up for even a moment. 

Vanessa shot her g*n many times in hopes of buying time to escape. Instead, two other fireballs merged as well. 

After sheathing her shotgun, she focused on slicing her way through the many fireballs coming at her. There were so many at every turn. It felt as though she was in a furnace. Even the stars were hidden by the smoke. 

Her dress was sizzling from the flames as the first flashing bomb was near ready to explode. It laughed coming close. She shot many icicles at it. But none did any real damage to the oversized flame. 

It got near. Watching the light flicker in her eyes, Vanessa braced herself for the burning impact of a full-on explosion. 

A tree fell between them. Another fell afterward, with a few more following. As thin as they were, the trees piled together to build a giant wall. 

A small fireball hurled at Vanessa's back. As she turned to slice it, the first bomb blew up.

The shockwave weighed heavily on her body as her sword ripped through the tiny attacking flame. All sound went blank for the rattling of the explosion. Though she felt like she was being ripped apart, Vanessa didn't stop.

Tripping over the slain herself, she oriented towards the second bomb. Despite being close, there was no fear. A tree rammed itself into the bomb, allowing her to fight off the smaller ones. 

The giant bomb began flashing while the trees were forming a coffin around it. Vanessa to get away from the thing before it detonates. There was no way in hell she was going to take another explosion. 

No matter how many flame balls came at her, Vanessa sliced her way through with her ice enchanted Masamune. 

Once the bomb detonated, the trees that covered it were set on fire. Though Vanessa wanted to freeze out the flames, the smaller fireballs were acting strange. Each one smiled big as they began flashing. 

She pulled out her shotgun once again to start shooting. The tiny firebombs were moving a bit faster than the former giant ones. 

When she got the chance, she charged up an ice bomb to shoot at the firebombs. Some froze while others self-destructed in hopes of harming her. 

Luckily she avoided them all. What remained were tiny flames that she kicked dirt on while walking to the big pile of burning trees. They laid there without twitching the slightest bit. She knew they moved before.

Maybe this time they were really dead. Regardless, she held her blade over the trees, emitting frost to extinguish the flames. Not a second went by that Vanessa didn't wish she took her water classes seriously. It really would've been handy. 

After a couple of minutes, she thought it was best to just look for the shrine. Right when she walked a few feet away, a slight rumble was heard. She quickly spun around to see nothing but the trees laying in the same pile where they made the coffin. 

A dim light shined from within the pile of trees. The flames were being sucked to the center. Trees began rising up into the air. It was an odd display. Ashes faded away to reveal a bright skin tone for the trees. 

At first, they seemed to merely be combining into a ball. But after a minute, Vanessa could see clearly they were forming something. Seemingly dead trees from the distance joined in for the show.

It was clear that there were two objects here. Both interchangeably rubbed onto the other. Branches and small roots hung down like veins freshly pulled out of a body. No stench existed. In fact, the burning ash was replaced by a soothing smell that cleared out Vanessa's nostrils. 

While wiping her nose in her sleeve, she watched as the trees paled their skin bright. Both were toned a bit. You could see bark tearing out of them. yet, it didn't stop the embrace. The hands held one another as though it was their last or potentially their first time feeling. 

A radiance emitted white rings to spouted pollens into the land. In the distance was still fire. But in the near dirt, where Vanessa cleared, was perfect for the new buds to grow. 

"Is cute. But very disturbing," thought Vanessa.

Before she continued her journey, the little hand took control. It pointed away into the flames in a direction that went slightly off course from the shrine. It confused Vanessa deeply as to why she was being steered away. But there was something in her heart that told her to listen to the hand that saved her.